出刊於1908年的《神州國光集》，是中國境內最早專致於中國美術圖片的刊物。該集刊試圖將西方的「美術」觀念納入「國粹」的範圍，一方面將傳統鑑藏文化裡值得收藏的品類，轉化為其所理解的「美術」，一方面以時下最新穎的照相印刷技術（如珂羅版、網目銅版等）複製「美術」。新興的照相複製技術，如何進入中國既有的複本製作傳統？在傳統鑑藏品類轉化為「美術」的過程中，這些照相複製品又居間扮演什麼樣的角色？本文試圖自該集刊的廣告修辭、印刷技術、及所用紙料等層面，討論三個與「複製」有關的議題：一是該集刊對於源自西方之照相複製技術的接受態度；二是該集刊在複製所謂「美術」時的重點與方向；三是探討這些複製品之物質面所媒介傳達的文化訊息。本文以為，傳統以「筆墨」為尚的鑑賞觀，影響著《神州國光集》對珂羅版印刷技術的接受態度及複製重點，而使其有不同於歐洲的發展。在保存國粹的旗幟下，《神州國光集》不僅意在出版逼肖原作的複製品，亦隱含有複製傳統鑑藏習慣的意圖。然而，就在其亟欲保守傳統的複製作為中，傳統的藝術價值體系卻也似乎悄然轉變。

Launched in 1908, Shenzhou guoguangji was the earliest periodical in China featuring photographic images of Chinese art, and with it a booming age of photographic reproduction of art was also opened. Motivated by the call for preserving the ‘national essence’, the periodical employed the most advanced photomechanical printing methods to publish images of the objects which were then transposed into the new category of ‘art’ and celebrated as national patrimony. By examining the rhetorical strategies, publishing practices, and the materiality of this periodical, this article looks into the ways in which photographic reproduction was perceived and received in early twentieth-century China, and explores the cultural aspiration expressed in these same photographic reproductions. It argues that the attempt at reproducing images of Chinese art at this time was not merely aiming at faithful copying of images, but also implied an effort at replicating traditional cultural practices. Ironically, the traditional value system for art seemed to have undergone some change in this very effort at preserving cultural authenticity.

美術; 國粹; 珂羅版; 複製; 攝影

photographic reproduction; collotype; meishu (art); guocui (national essence)